Comments on: DIY & Memorial House Update

By: patti

patti — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:31:58 +0000

must. keep. gremlin.

no bathroom?! oh crap. and pissing in a corn field?! after drinks, with a giganto fire? oh purdy please keep your camera handy for that event.

By: Gene

Gene — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:58:50 +0000

You insulate in the roof using rigid foam insulation. It does look awfully cool (there’s a house down the road a ways with it, that looks great lit up at night, and our uphill neighbors have exposed rafters, too), but the downside in winter is that warm air rises, so your heat tends to congregate up in the rafters. It would be much better if you had radiant floor heating instead of forced air for a layout like that.

Chances are that your house has roof trusses; depending on the age they’re probably site-built. In any event, they probably don’t look nearly so cool as the rafters and beams that were designed that way in the pictures. Which is to say besides making sure the roof doesn’t fall in (always a good thing), you might have to do work to re-do things in order for it to have the openness.

Not to be a party-pooper, but just so you approach the idea with realistic expectations.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:53:34 +0000

I’d be worried about roof insulation, too… but it would look so cool!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:36:51 +0000

I absolutely LOVE the look of exposed rafters, but how do you insulate the roof?

Excellent call on the bathroom-reno-before-moving issue, if you have a working kitchen and bathroom life is good…